Method and system for traversing planned path in marked facility

ABSTRACT

A method and a system for traversing a planned path in a marked facility are provided. A transport vehicle transits from a first location to a second location in the marked facility for traversing the planned path. The first and second locations are indicated by first and second location markers, respectively. The transport vehicle records a movement pattern of the transport vehicle, while transiting from the first location to the second location. The transport vehicle halts at an intermediate location when the transport vehicle fails to detect the second location marker at the second location. A first path traversed to reach the intermediate location from the first location is retraced by the transport vehicle based on the recorded movement pattern. On reaching the first location, the transport vehicle re-attempts to transit from the first location to the second location.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to navigation in a markedfacility, and, more particularly to a method and a system for traversinga planned path in a marked facility.

BACKGROUND

Transport vehicles or autonomous guided vehicles may be utilized forperforming various operations at a marked facility such as a warehouse,a storage facility, a retail store, a factory, an industrial laboratory,or the like. For example, a transport vehicle may transport a payload(e.g., inventory items or packages) from a first location to a secondlocation in the marked facility. The transport vehicle may transit alonga path between the first location and the second location based onvarious location markers (e.g., first and second location markers,respectively) that are located in the marked facility. Examples of thevarious location markers include, barcodes, quick response (QR) codes,radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, or the like.

While transiting along the path from the first location to the secondlocation in the marked facility, the transport vehicle may fail todetect the second location marker that corresponds to the secondlocation. The transport vehicle may fail to detect the second locationmarker due to various reasons, such as, a poor condition of the secondlocation marker, a momentary snag in the transport vehicle preventingthe transport vehicle from detecting the second location marker, a speedof the transport vehicle being higher than a threshold speed required todetect the second location marker, or the like. In some scenarios, thetransport vehicle may come to a halt when it determines that it hasfailed to detect the second location marker. Conventional solutions haverelied upon humans to intervene in such scenarios, requiring undesirableexpenditure of time and human efforts for enabling the transport vehicleto resume operations. Further, a vicinity of the transport vehicle maybe cordoned off to prevent hazards such as collisions with othertransport vehicles. For example, another transport vehicle transitingnear a current location of the transport vehicle may be instructed totraverse an alternate route. As a result, a throughput and an efficiencyof operations performed in the marked facility may be severely affected.

In light of foregoing, there exists a need for a technical solution thatenables transport vehicles to recover from navigation faults andmitigates a need for human intervention when such navigation faultsoccur.

SUMMARY

In one embodiment, a method for traversing a planned path in a markedfacility is provided. The method comprises a transport vehicletransiting from a first location in the marked facility to a secondlocation in the marked facility for traversing the planned path. Thefirst and second locations are indicated by first and second locationmarkers, respectively. A movement pattern of the transport vehicle isrecorded by the transport vehicle while transiting from the firstlocation to the second location. The transport vehicle halts at anintermediate location when the transport vehicle fails to detect thesecond location marker at the second location. A first path traversed toreach the intermediate location from the first location is retraced bythe transport vehicle based on the recorded movement pattern. Onreaching the first location, the transport vehicle re-attempts totransit from the first location to the second location.

In another embodiment, a system for traversing a planned path in amarked facility is provided. The system includes a plurality of locationmarkers affixed on a floor surface of the marked facility. The pluralityof location markers are indicative of a plurality of locations in themarked facility. The system further includes a transport vehicle that isconfigured to transit from a first location in the marked facility to asecond location in the marked facility for traversing the planned path.The first and second locations are indicated by first and secondlocation markers of the plurality of location markers. The transportvehicle records a movement pattern thereof while transiting from thefirst location to the second location. The transport vehicle halts at anintermediate location, based on a failure to detect the second locationmarker at the second location. The transport vehicle retraces a firstpath traversed to reach the intermediate location from the firstlocation based on the recorded movement pattern. On reaching the firstlocation, the transport vehicle re-attempts to transit from the firstlocation to the second location.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings illustrate the various embodiments of systems,methods, and other aspects of the disclosure. It will be apparent to aperson skilled in the art that the illustrated element boundaries (e.g.,boxes, groups of boxes, or other shapes) in the figures represent oneexample of the boundaries. In some examples, one element may be designedas multiple elements, or multiple elements may be designed as oneelement. In some examples, an element shown as an internal component ofone element may be implemented as an external component in another, andvice versa. Various embodiments of the present disclosure areillustrated by way of example, and not limited by the appended figures,in which like references indicate similar elements:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram that illustrates an exemplary environment, inaccordance with an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure:

FIG. 2 is a block diagram that illustrates a transport vehicle of FIG. 1, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure;

FIGS. 3A-3D, collectively represent an exemplary scenario that describesa method for retracing a planned path by a transport vehicle of FIG. 1 ,in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure:

FIGS. 4A-4E, collectively represent another exemplary scenario thatdescribes a method for retracing a planned path by a transport vehicleof FIG. 1 , in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of thedisclosure;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram that illustrates a control server of FIG. 1 ,in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure; and

FIGS. 6A-6D, collectively represent a flow chart that illustrates aprocess for traversing a planned path in a marked facility, inaccordance with an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure.

Further areas of applicability of the present disclosure will becomeapparent from the detailed description provided hereinafter. It shouldbe understood that the detailed description of exemplary embodiments isintended for illustration purposes only and is, therefore, not intendedto necessarily limit the scope of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure is best understood with reference to the detailedfigures and description set forth herein. Various embodiments arediscussed below with reference to the figures. However, those skilled inthe art will readily appreciate that the detailed descriptions givenherein with respect to the figures are simply for explanatory purposesas the methods and systems may extend beyond the described embodiments.In one example, the teachings presented and the needs of a particularapplication may yield multiple alternate and suitable approaches toimplement the functionality of any detail described herein. Therefore,any approach may extend beyond the particular implementation choices inthe following embodiments that are described and shown.

References to “an embodiment”, “another embodiment”, “yet anotherembodiment”, “one example”, “another example”, “yet another example”,“for example”, and so on, indicate that the embodiment(s) or example(s)so described may include a particular feature, structure,characteristic, property, element, or limitation, but that not everyembodiment or example necessarily includes that particular feature,structure, characteristic, property, element or limitation. Furthermore,repeated use of the phrase “in an embodiment” does not necessarily referto the same embodiment.

Various embodiments of the disclosure provide a method and a system fortraversing a planned path in a marked facility. The marked facility mayconstitute an entirety or a portion of a facility (e.g., a warehouse, aretail store, a factory, an industrial laboratory, or the like). Themarked facility may include various location markers to facilitatenavigation by one or more transport vehicles that traverse the markedfacility. The marked facility may further include a control server thatreceives various requests from an external communication server forperforming one or more operations (e.g., transportation of a payloadbetween various locations in the marked facility). Based on a receivedrequest, the control server may select a transport vehicle from the oneor more transport vehicles and communicate a transit instruction to theselected transport vehicle for performing a corresponding operation(e.g., transporting a payload from a first location to a second locationin the marked facility). The transit instruction may be indicative of asequence of a plurality of location markers to be traversed by theselected transport vehicle (hereinafter, referred to as ‘the transportvehicle’). The transit instruction instructs the transport vehicle totraverse the plurality of location markers in the sequence, as indicatedby the transit instruction. This sequence of the plurality of locationmarkers is referred to as ‘planned path’. The transit instruction may beindicative of an identifier of the payload, the planned path to betraversed to transit from the first location to the second location,and/or details of corresponding location markers (e.g., identifiers ofthe first and second location markers that indicate the first and secondlocations), respectively.

The transport vehicle may receive the transit instruction from thecontrol server for transiting from the first location to the secondlocation in the marked facility. The transport vehicle may begintransiting from the first location towards the second location based onthe transit instruction. While transiting from the first locationtowards the second location, the transport vehicle may record, amovement pattern of the transport vehicle and store the recordedmovement pattern in a memory associated with the transport vehicle. Themovement pattern of the transport vehicle may include, but is notlimited to, a direction of alignment of the transport vehicle withrespect to a location marker (e.g., the first location marker), avelocity profile (e.g., a speed and a direction of movement of thetransport vehicle), an acceleration profile (e.g., a magnitude and adirection of acceleration or deceleration of the transport vehicle), orthe like. The movement pattern may be recorded continuously or atdiscrete time instances. The transport vehicle may attempt to detect thesecond location marker. If the transport vehicle fails to detect thesecond location marker at the second location, the transport vehicle mayhalt at a current location of the transport vehicle (the currentlocation of the transport vehicle is referred to as an “intermediatelocation”). The transport vehicle may maintain a counter for trackingthe missed location markers. The counter may initially be set to adefault value. When the transport vehicle fails to detect the secondlocation marker at an estimated distance from the first location markerlocated at the first location, the transport vehicle may modify thevalue of the counter. In other words, the transport vehicle mayincrement or decrement the value of the counter depending on whether thecounter is an up-counter or a down-counter, respectively. Based on therecorded movement pattern, the transport vehicle may then retrace afirst path traversed by the transport vehicle to reach the intermediatelocation from the first location.

On reaching the first location, the transport vehicle may re-attempt totraverse the planned path to transit from the first location to thesecond location. If the transport vehicle again fails to detect thesecond location marker, the transport vehicle may halt at anotherintermediate location, increment the value of the counter, and againretrace a path (e.g., the first path) traversed to reach theintermediate location. On reaching the first location, the transportvehicle may again re-attempt to traverse the planned path to reach thesecond location from the first location. The transport vehicle may,repeatedly, re-attempt transiting to the second location from the firstlocation as long as the value of the counter is less than a thresholdvalue. When the value of the counter equals the threshold value, thetransport vehicle may determine if there is any other location markerincluded in the planned path. In other words, the transport vehicle maydetermine presence of a third location after the second location in theplanned path. For example, if details of a third location marker (e.g.,an identifier of the third location marker) are present in the transitinstruction, the transport vehicle may orient itself (i.e., alignitself) towards the third location marker that indicates the thirdlocation and follow a second path to reach the third location markerfrom an intermediate location of the transport vehicle. The transportvehicle may further communicate an error notification to the controlserver indicating that the second location marker is defective. If thethird location marker is not indicated by the transit instruction, thetransport vehicle may retrace a path (e.g., the first path) back to thefirst location. When the value of the counter is greater than thethreshold value, the transport vehicle may halt at the intermediatelocation and communicate an error notification to the control server.

Thus, the method and the system improvise a processing circuitry of thetransport vehicle, enabling the transport vehicle to retrace a path torecover from navigation faults (e.g., failure to detect a locationmarker) without human intervention.

In some embodiments, a “marked facility” may constitute an entirety or aportion of a facility such as, but not limited to, a warehouse, a retailstore, a factory, or an industrial laboratory. The marked facility maybe marked with various location markers located at pre-determineddistances. The location markers facilitate navigation by transportvehicles that traverse the facility.

In some embodiments, a “planned path” is a path to be traversed by atransport vehicle for executing an operation in a marked facility. Forexample, a planned path may refer to a path to be traversed by thetransport vehicle for transporting a payload from a first location to asecond location in the marked facility. The planned path may define asequence of locations (or location markers) to be traversed by thetransport vehicle for transporting the payload from the first locationto the second location.

In some embodiments, “location markers” are markers that are indicativeof various locations in a marked facility. Examples of the locationmarkers include, barcodes, quick response (QR) codes, or radio frequencyidentification (RFID) tags. Each location marker may be indicative of aunique location in the marked facility. A transport vehicle may scan alocation marker corresponding to a current location of the transportvehicle to determine a relative position of the transport vehicle in themarked facility.

In some embodiments, “movement pattern” includes various movementparameters of a transport vehicle that are recorded continuously or atdiscrete time instances while the transport vehicle is transiting from afirst location to a second location. The movement pattern includes anangular alignment of the transport vehicle with respect to a locationmarker of the first location, a velocity profile (e.g., a speed anddirection of movement) of the transport vehicle, and/or an accelerationprofile (e.g., a magnitude and a direction of acceleration ordeceleration) of the transport vehicle that are recorded continuously orat discrete time instances while the transport vehicle is transitingfrom the first location to the second location.

In some embodiments, “transport vehicle” may be a robotic vehicle (suchas an automated guided vehicle, AGV) that executes one or moreoperations in a marked facility. For example, the transport vehicle mayexecute an operation for transiting from one location to anotherlocation in the marked facility.

In some embodiments, a “control server” is a physical or cloud dataprocessing system on which a server program runs. The control server maybe implemented in hardware or software, or a combination thereof. In oneembodiment, the control server may be implemented in computer programsexecuting on programmable computers, such as personal computers,laptops, or a network of computer systems. The control server isresponsible for handling various operations in a marked facility.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram that illustrates an exemplary environment 100,in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure. Theexemplary environment 100 shows a marked facility 102. The markedfacility 102 includes a control server (CS) 104 and first through thirdtransport vehicles 106 a-106 c. Hereinafter, the first through thirdtransport vehicles 106 a-106 c are collectively referred to as ‘thetransport vehicles 106’. The CS 104 and the transport vehicles 106 maycommunicate with each other by way of a communication network 108 orthrough separate communication networks established therebetween.Examples of the marked facility 102 include, but are not limited to, astorage facility, a warehouse, a retail store, a factory, or anindustrial laboratory. In a non-limiting example, the marked facility102 is a storage facility that stores inventory items or packages forselling and/or fulfilment.

The marked facility 102 may be marked with various fiducial markers orlocation markers (such as first and second location markers L₁ and L₂).The marked facility 102 has been shown to include multiple locationmarkers, but, for the sake of brevity, only the first and secondlocation markers L₁ and L₂ have been labeled. The location markers(e.g., the first and second location markers L₁ and L₂) may be locatedat pre-determined locations in the marked facility 102 for indicatingthe pre-determined locations. The pre-determined locations need notconform to any specific pattern and may be subject to a configuration ofthe marked facility 102. For example, the location markers may beaffixed on a floor surface of the marked facility 102 to indicate thepre-determined locations. For example, the first and second locationmarkers L₁ and L₂ may be located at first and second locations (e.g., ona floor surface of the marked facility 102). Examples of the locationmarkers may include, but are not limited to, barcodes, quick response(QR) codes, radio frequency identification device (RFID) tags, or thelike. In one embodiment, the placement of the location markers isuniform (i.e., a distance between consecutive location markers isconstant). In another embodiment, the placement of the location markersmay be non-uniform (i.e., a distance between consecutive locationmarkers may be variable).

The marked facility 102 is not limited to include just the CS 104 andthe transport vehicles 106. For example, the marked facility 102 mayinclude a storage area, an inventory pick-put station, a sortingstation, and/or any other entity for performing one or more operationsin the marked facility 102. Examples of the inventory items stored inthe marked facility 102 may include, but are not limited to, electronicgoods, mechanical goods, automobile parts, groceries, apparel, or thelike. The inventory items or the packages may be stored in the storagearea (not shown). The storage area may include various portable storageunits (PSUs; not shown) for storing the inventory items or packages. Theinventory pick-put station may receive various inventory items orpackages for replenishment or order fulfilment. The sorting station maybe configured to sort the inventory items into various categories, forexample, based on size, shape, material, shipping destination, or thelike.

The CS 104 may be a network of computers, a software framework, or acombination thereof, that may provide a generalized approach to createthe server implementation. Examples of the CS 104 may include, but arenot limited to, personal computers, laptops, mini-computers, mainframecomputers, any non-transient and tangible machine that can execute amachine-readable code, cloud-based servers, distributed server networks,or a network of computer systems. The CS 104 may be realized throughvarious web-based technologies such as, but not limited to, a Javaweb-framework, a NET framework, a personal home page (PUP) framework, orany other web-application framework. The CS 104 may be maintained by astorage facility management authority or a third-party entity thatmanages operations at the marked facility 102. Embodiments of variouscomponents of the CS 104 and their functionalities are described laterin conjunction with FIG. 5 .

The CS 104 may include suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces, and/orcode, executed by the circuitry, for facilitating operations performedin the marked facility 102. The CS 104 may be configured to receive,from an external communication server, various requests for performingoperations in the marked facility 102. In one embodiment, the CS 104 mayreceive a request for storing one or more inventory items or packages inthe marked facility 102. In another embodiment, the CS 104 may receive arequest for fulfilling an order associated with one or more inventoryitems or packages stored in the marked facility 102. Based on thereceived requests, the CS 104 may select one or more transport vehicles(e.g., the first through third transport vehicles 106 a-106 c) forperforming one or more operations corresponding to the receivedrequests. Further, the CS 104 may be configured to determine one or morepaths to be traversed by the selected one or more transport vehicles forperforming the one or more operations. The CS 104 may communicateinstructions to the selected one or more transport vehicles forperforming the one or more operations. The instructions may beindicative of the determined one or more paths. The selected one or moretransport vehicles may perform the one or more operations based on theinstructions.

The transport vehicles 106 are robotic vehicles or automated guidedvehicles that move in the marked facility 102. The transport vehicles106 may include suitable logic, instructions, circuitry, interfaces,and/or code, executable by the circuitry, for performing variousoperations (e.g., transporting various payloads between first and secondlocations) in the marked facility 102 based on the instructions receivedfrom the CS 104. Examples of the payloads may include the PSUs, theinventory items, and/or the packages stored in the marked facility 102.For example, the first location may be a location in the storage areaand the second location may be a location of the inventory pick/putstation or the sorting station. A transport vehicle (e.g., the firsttransport vehicle 106 a) may determine its relative position in themarked facility 102 by scanning and/or identifying a location markercorresponding to the position of the first transport vehicle 106 a.Thus, the transport vehicles 106 may navigate the marked facility 102 byway of the location markers (e.g., the first and second location markersL₁ and L₂). The transport vehicles 106 are responsive to theinstructions received from the CS 104 and perform one or more operationsbased on the received instructions. The transport vehicles 106 areexplained in conjunction with FIG. 2 .

The communication network 108 is a medium through which content andinstructions are transmitted between the CS 104, the transport vehicles106, and/or other entities in the marked facility 102. Examples of thecommunication network 108 include, but are not limited to, a Wi-Finetwork, a light fidelity (Li-Fi) network, a local area network (LAN), awide area network (WAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), a satellitenetwork, the Internet, a fiber optic network, a coaxial cable network,an infrared (IR) network, a radio frequency (RF) network, andcombinations thereof. Various entities in the exemplary environment 100may connect to the communication network 108 in accordance with variouswired and wireless communication protocols, such as Transmission ControlProtocol and Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP),Long Term Evolution (LTE) communication protocols, or any combinationthereof.

In operation, the CS 104 may receive a first request (e.g., a requestfor fulfilment of an order). The CS 104 may select one of the transportvehicles 106 (e.g., the first transport vehicle 106 a) for transportinginventory items or packages required for the fulfilment of the order. Ina non-limiting example, the first transport vehicle 106 a may beselected based on a proximity of the first transport vehicle 106 a to aPSU, in the storage area, that stores the inventory items or packagescorresponding to the order. In a non-limiting example, it is assumedthat a current location of the first transport vehicle 106 a is same asa location of the PSU. Based on the first request, the CS 104 maydetermine a path (i.e., a planned path) to be traversed from the currentlocation of the first transport vehicle 106 a to the inventory pick/putstation for the fulfilment of the order. The planned path may be definedas a sequence of location markers that are to be traversed, by the firsttransport vehicle 106 a, for reaching a second location (i.e., thelocation of the inventory pick/put station) from the first location(i.e., the current location of the first transport vehicle 106 a). Theplanned path may indicate that the first transport vehicle is totraverse the first and second location markers L₁ and L₂, indicative ofthe first and second locations, in that order or sequence. Based on theselection of the first transport vehicle 106 a and the determination ofthe planned path, the CS 104 may communicate a transit instruction tothe first transport vehicle 106 a. The transit instruction may beindicative of the planned path to be traversed by the first transportvehicle 106 a. In other words, the transit instruction may includedetails of the first and second location markers L₁ and L₂ to betraversed by the first transport vehicle 106 a. For example, the transitinstruction may include identifiers of the first and second locationmarkers L₁ and L₂. The transit instruction may be further indicative ofan estimated distance between the first and second location markers L₁and L₂. In another embodiment, where the planned path is defined as asequence of more than two location markers, the transit instruction maybe indicative of distances between consecutive location markers includedin the sequence. The first transport vehicle 106 a receives the transitinstruction that instructs the first transport vehicle 106 a to traversethe planned path.

The first transport vehicle 106 a may be configured to scan, detect,and/or identify location markers (e.g., the first and second locationmarkers L₁ and L₂) in the planned path to be traversed by the firsttransport vehicle 106 a. The first transport vehicle 106 a may includevarious sensors (such as image sensors, RFID sensors, and/or the like)for scanning the location markers. The first transport vehicle 106 a mayutilize the location markers included in the planned path for transitingfrom the first location to the second location. The first transportvehicle 106 a may be further configured to record a movement pattern ofthe first transport vehicle 106 a while transiting from the firstlocation to the second location. The recorded movement pattern mayinclude, but is not limited to, an angular alignment of the firsttransport vehicle 106 a with respect to the first location marker L₁, avelocity profile of the first transport vehicle 106 a (e.g., a speedand/or a direction of movement of the first transport vehicle 106 a), anacceleration profile of the first transport vehicle 106 a (e.g., amagnitude and a direction of acceleration or deceleration of the firsttransport vehicle 106 a), and/or the like. The first transport vehicle106 a may record the movement pattern using various sensors (e.g.,motion sensors, odometric sensors, accelerometers, gyroscopes, or thelike). The first transport vehicle 106 a may utilize sensor data fromthe sensors to record the movement pattern continuously or at discretetime instances while the first transport vehicle 106 a transits from thefirst location to the second location along the planned path. The firsttransport vehicle 106 a may store the recorded movement pattern in amemory of the first transport vehicle 106 a. The first transport vehicle106 a may attempt to detect the second location marker L₂ at the secondlocation.

In one embodiment, the first transport vehicle 106 a may successfullydetect the second location marker L₂. In such a scenario, the firsttransport vehicle 106 a may halt at the second location and communicatea notification to the CS 104 indicating that the first transport vehicle106 a has reached the second location.

In another embodiment, the first transport vehicle 106 a may determinethat the first transport vehicle 106 a has failed to detect the secondlocation marker L₂. The first transport vehicle 106 a may fail to detectthe second location marker L₂ due to various reasons that are explainedin conjunction with FIG. 3 . In such a scenario, the first transportvehicle 106 a may halt at a current location of the first transportvehicle 106 a. The current location at which the first transport vehicle106 a has halted is referred to as an intermediate location. The firsttransport vehicle 106 a may further maintain a counter (e.g., anup-counter or a down-counter) to measure a number of times the firsttransport vehicle 106 a fails to detect the second location marker L₂.In a non-limiting example, the counter is an up-counter. The counter mayinitially be set to a default value (e.g., c=0). When the firsttransport vehicle 106 a fails to detect a location marker (for example,the second location marker L₂), the first transport vehicle 106 a mayincrement the value of the counter (e.g., c=1). In another embodiment,where the counter is a down-counter, a default value of the counter maybe greater than the threshold value of the counter. For example, thedefault value of the counter may be equal to three (i.e., c=3) and thethreshold value may be equal to zero. In such a scenario, the firsttransport vehicle 106 a may decrement the value of the counter (i.e.,c=2), when the first transport vehicle 106 a fails to detect a locationmarker.

Based on the failure to detect the second location marker L₂, the firsttransport vehicle 106 a may attempt to retrace a first path that wastraversed to reach the intermediate location. The first transportvehicle 106 a may retrace the path based on the recorded movementpattern. The first transport vehicle 106 a may reach the first locationmarker L₁ and re-attempt to transit from first location to the secondlocation. If the first transport vehicle 106 a is successful indetecting the second location marker L₂ at the second location, thefirst transport vehicle 106 a may halt at the second location andcommunicate the notification to the CS 104. If the first transportvehicle 106 a fails again in detecting the second location marker L₂,the first transport vehicle 106 a may halt at another intermediatelocation and increment the counter (i.e., c=2). The first transportvehicle 106 a may retrace the path (e.g., the first path) traversed bythe first transport vehicle 106 a to reach the intermediate location andre-attempt to transit from the first location to the second location bytraversing the planned path if the value of the counter is less than thethreshold value.

The threshold value defines an upper limit on a number of times thefirst transport vehicle 106 a is allowed to re-attempt transiting fromthe first location to the second location. In a non-limiting example,the CS 104 may set the threshold value of the counter by communicatingone or more commands to the first transport vehicle 106 a. The CS 104may modify the threshold value at any time instance without deviatingfrom the scope of the disclosure. It will be apparent to those of skillin the art that the threshold value may be set to any value based onoperational requirements and does not limit the scope of the disclosure.For the sake brevity, the threshold value is assumed to be three.

In an exemplary scenario, it is assumed that first transport vehicle 106a has attempted to transit from the first location to the secondlocation thrice and has failed to detect the second location marker inall three attempts. In such a scenario, the value of the counter may beequal to three (i.e., c=3), i.e., the threshold value. When the value ofthe counter is equal to the threshold value (i.e., c=3), the firsttransport vehicle 106 a may determine if details of any other locationmarkers (e.g., a third location marker) are included in the transitinstruction. In other words, the first transport vehicle 106 a mayattempt to detect a presence of a third location after the secondlocation in the planned path when the value of the counter is equal tothe threshold value. If the first transport vehicle 106 a detects thepresence of third location to be traversed after reaching the secondlocation marker, the first transport vehicle 106 a may follow a secondpath to transit from the intermediate location to the third locationindicated by the third location marker. If the first transport vehicle106 a determines that there are no other location markers (i.e., if thepresence of the third location is not detected), the first transportvehicle 106 a may once again retrace a path (e.g., the first path)traversed to reach the intermediate location, reach the first location,and re-attempt traversing the planned path to reach the second location.When the value of the counter exceeds the threshold value (i.e., whenc>3), the first transport vehicle 106 a halts at another intermediatelocation and communicates an error notification to the CS 104.

In another exemplary scenario, the navigation faults in the transportvehicles 106 a-106 c may occur due to external factors in operatingenvironment of the marked facility 102. For example, earthquake tremors,fallen articles, or dust accumulated in planned trajectory of thetransport vehicles 106 a-106 c. In such a scenario, the server may issuea halt instruction to all the transport vehicles 106 a-106 c running inthe marked facility 102. Further, the server 104 may communicate thetransport vehicles 106 a-106 c to perform a retrace operation to reachthe previous marker of their current location in the respective plannedtrajectories.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram that illustrates the first transport vehicle106 a, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure.While FIG. 2 is explained in conjunction with the first transportvehicle 106 a, it will be apparent to those of skill in the art that thesecond and third transport vehicles 106 b and 106 c may be similar tothe first transport vehicle 106 a.

The first transport vehicle 106 a may include a first processingcircuitry 202, a first memory 204, and a first transceiver 206 thatcommunicate with each other by way of a first communication bus 208. Thefirst processing circuitry 202 may include an instruction handler 210, adecoder 212, an error handler 214, a counter 216, and a diagnostics unit218. It will be apparent to a person having ordinary skill in the artthat the transport vehicles 106 are not limited to any specificcombination of hardware circuitry and software.

The first processing circuitry 202 may include suitable logic,instructions, circuitry, interfaces, and/or code, executable by thecircuitry, for implementing various operations such as transiting fromthe first location to the second location, or the like. Examples of thefirst processing circuitry 202 include, but not limited to, anapplication-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) processor, a reducedinstruction set computing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction setcomputing (CISC) processor, a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), acombination of a central processing unit (CPU) and a graphics processingunit (GPU), a microcontroller, and/or the like.

The first memory 204 may include suitable logic, instructions,circuitry, interfaces, and/or code, executable by the circuitry, tostore the movement pattern of the first transport vehicle 106 a(hereinafter, referred to as ‘the movement pattern 220’) and thethreshold value (hereinafter referred to as ‘the threshold value 222’).Examples of the first memory 204 include a random-access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), a removable storage drive, a hard disk drive(HDD), a flash memory, a solid-state memory, and the like. In oneembodiment, the first memory 204 may be realized through variousdatabase technologies such as, but not limited to, Microsoft SQL,Oracle, IBM DB2, Microsoft Access, PostgreSQL, MySQL, and SQLite. Itwill be apparent to a person skilled in the art that the scope of thedisclosure is not limited to realizing the first memory 204 in the firsttransport vehicle 106 a, as described herein.

The movement pattern 220 may indicate various movement parameters of thefirst transport vehicle 106 a. The movement pattern 220 may include anangular alignment of the first transport vehicle 106 a with respect toone of the location markers (e.g., the first location marker L₁) or anaxis (e.g., x-axis or y-axis), the velocity profile of the firsttransport vehicle 106 a, the acceleration profile of the first transportvehicle 106 a, or the like. The velocity profile of the first transportvehicle 106 a may include, but is not limited to, a speed or velocity ofthe first transport vehicle 106 a at various time instances, a directionof movement of the first transport vehicle 106 a at the various timeinstances, or the like. Similarly, the acceleration profile of the firsttransport vehicle 106 a may include, but is not limited to, a magnitudeof acceleration or deceleration of the first transport vehicle 106 a atthe time instances, a direction of acceleration or deceleration of thefirst transport vehicle 106 a at the various time instances, or thelike.

The movement pattern 220 may be recorded continuously or at discrete thetime instances by the first processing circuitry 202 and stored in thefirst memory 204. The movement pattern 220 may be recorded while thefirst transport vehicle 106 a is transiting between various locations(e.g., the first and second locations) based on the transit instruction.For example, the movement pattern 220 is recorded at various timeinstances when the first transport vehicle 106 a is transiting from thefirst location to the second location. The first processing circuitry202 may determine and record, by storing in the first memory 204, theangular alignment of the first transport vehicle 106 a with respect tothe first location marker L₁, the speed or velocity of the firsttransport vehicle 106 a, a direction of movement of the first transportvehicle 106 a, the magnitude of acceleration or deceleration of thefirst transport vehicle 106 a, and the direction in which the firsttransport vehicle 106 a is accelerating or decelerating at each of thevarious time instances.

The threshold value 222 may be set by the CS 104. The CS 104 may modifythe threshold value 222 by way of one or more commands that may becommunicated to the first transport vehicle 106 a. The first processingcircuitry 202 may determine how many times the first transport vehicle106 a fails to detect a certain location marker (e.g., the secondlocation marker L₂). The value of the counter 216 is initially set tothe default value and may be incremented by the first processingcircuitry 202 whenever the location marker is not detected. For example,when the value of the counter 216 is equal to one (i.e., c=1), the firsttransport vehicle 106 a has missed detecting the location marker (forexample, the second location marker L₂) once.

The first transceiver 206 may transmit and receive data over thecommunication network 108 using one or more communication networkprotocols. The first transceiver 206 may receive various requests,instructions, and/or commands from the CS 104. For example, the firsttransceiver 206 receives the transit instruction from the CS 104. Thefirst transceiver 206 may transmit various notifications (e.g., errornotifications) and messages to the CS 104. Examples of the firsttransceiver 206 include, but are not limited to, an antenna, a radiofrequency transceiver, a wireless transceiver, a Bluetooth transceiver,an ethernet based transceiver, universal serial bus (USB) transceiver,or any other device configured to transmit and receive data.

The first transport vehicle 106 a may further include sensors 224, ascanner 226, a lifting device 228, and a motor 230. The sensors 224 mayinclude, but are not limited to, position sensors, accelerometers,gyroscopes, optical encoders, or the like to record the movement pattern220 of the first transport vehicle 106 a. The first processing circuitry202 may process sensor data captured by the sensors 224, at various timeinstances, to obtain the movement pattern 220 of the first transportvehicle 106 a. The first processing circuitry 202 may store the obtainedmovement pattern 220 as a record in the first memory 204. The firsttransport vehicle 106 a may further include other sensors (e.g., sensorsfor an obstacle detection system, ODS) without deviating from the scopeof the disclosure.

The scanner 226 may include an image or an RFID scanner (i.e., one ormore sensors for scanning images or RFID codes) for scanning and/ordetecting location markers (e.g., the first location marker L₁) at themarked facility 102. For example, the scanner 226 may be an image sensorused to scan the location markers when the location markers are in aform of QR codes or barcodes.

The lifting device 228 may include suitable logic, instructions,circuitry, interfaces, and/or code, executable by the circuitry, formeasuring a weight of a payload (e.g., a PSU) carried by the firsttransport vehicle 106 a. Based on the weight of the payload, the liftingdevice 228 may control a lifting mechanism that is used to raise acontact plate 232 connected to the lifting device 228. The contact plate232 may be raised or lowered based on the weight of the payload to lowera center of gravity of the first transport vehicle 106 a. A low centerof gravity may be necessary to ensure that the payload is stable whencarried by the first transport vehicle 106 a. The first processingcircuitry 202 may adjust a speed of the first transport vehicle 106 abased on the weight of the payload.

The motor 230 may include suitable logic, instructions, circuitry,interfaces, and/or code, executable by the circuitry, for controllingmovement of wheels 234 of the first transport vehicle 106 a. The motor230 may be configured to receive movement instructions from the firstprocessing circuitry 202. Based on the movement instructions, the motor230 may control the direction of alignment, the speed, the direction ofmovement, the magnitude of acceleration, and the direction ofacceleration of the first transport vehicle 106 a using the wheels 234.In other words, the motor 230 may be configured to move or halt thefirst transport vehicle 106 a by way of the wheels 234.

The first processing circuitry 202 may perform various operations in themarked facility 102 by way of the instruction handler 210, the decoder212, the error handler 214, the counter 216, and the diagnostics unit218. The instruction handler 210 may receive various instructions andmessages from the CS 104 by way of the first transceiver 206 included inthe first transport vehicle 106 a. For example, the instruction handler210 may receive the transit instruction from the CS 104. The instructionhandler 210 may communicate movement instructions to the motor 230 basedon the transit instruction.

The decoder 212 may include suitable logic, instructions, circuitry,interfaces, and/or code, executable by the circuitry, for decoding andidentifying the location markers (e.g., the first and second locationmarkers L₁ and L₂) scanned by the scanner 226. Based on the decoding ofthe scanned location markers, the decoder 212 may determine whetherlocation markers associated with the transit instruction aresuccessfully detected. The error handler 214 may be responsible forcommunicating various error notifications to the CS 104 whenever anyerror occurs during an operation (e.g., when the first transport vehicle106 a is transiting from the first location to the second location). Forexample, the error handler 214 may determine that a location marker(e.g., the second location marker L₂) is damaged when the value of thecounter 216 exceeds the threshold value 222 and may communicate an errornotification to the CS 104, indicating that the location marker may bedamaged.

The counter 216 may include suitable logic, instructions, circuitry,interfaces, and/or code, executable by the circuitry, for measuring anumber of times the first transport vehicle 106 a fails to detect acertain location marker. The value of the counter 216 may be incrementedwhenever the decoder 212 fails to detect a certain location marker(e.g., the second location marker L₂). The counter 216 is furtherconfigured to reset to the default value (i.e., zero) when the locationmarker (e.g., the second location marker L₂) is successfully detected.

The diagnostics unit 218 may include suitable logic, instructions,circuitry, interfaces, and/or code, executable by the circuitry, forperforming various diagnostic tests to determine whether variouscomponents of the first transport vehicle 106 a (e.g., the sensors 224,the scanner 226, the motor 230, or the like) are functioning properly.For example, when the first transport vehicle 106 a fails to detect thesecond location marker L₂, the diagnostics unit 218 may run one or morediagnostic tests on the motor 230, the decoder 212, the scanner 226, orthe like. For example, if the one or more diagnostic tests indicate thatthe motor 230 is faulty, the error handler 214 may communicate an errornotification to the CS 104, indicating that the motor 230 is faulty.

FIGS. 3A-3D, collectively represent an exemplary scenario 300 thatdescribes a method for retracing a planned path by the first transportvehicle 106 a, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of thedisclosure. FIG. 3A shows a section of the marked facility 102, thefirst transport vehicle 106 a, and the location markers (for example,the first and second location markers L₁ and L₂).

With reference to FIG. 3A, the CS 104 may receive the first request fromthe external communication server for transporting the inventory itemsor packages from the first location to the second location in the markedfacility 102. In one embodiment, the first request may be an itemretrieval request. In another embodiment, the first request may be anitem placement request. The first request may include informationpertaining to the inventory items or packages that are to be transportedfrom the first location to the second location. Based on the firstrequest, the CS 104 may retrieve, from a second memory of the CS 104(shown in FIG. 5 ), a virtual map of the marked facility 102 andtransport vehicle data of the transport vehicles 106 from its memory.The transport vehicle data may include, but is not limited to, a currentlocation of each of the transport vehicles 106, a load handling capacityof each of the transport vehicles 106, or the like.

Based on the transport vehicle data, the CS 104 may select, based onvarious selection factors, at least one of the transport vehicles 106for transporting the inventory items or packages from the first locationto the second location. The selection factors may include, but are notlimited to, availability of the transport vehicles 106, the loadhandling capacities of the transport vehicles 106, weight of a payloadcorresponding to the first request, distances between current locationsof the transport vehicles 106 and the first location, or a combinationthereof. For example, based on the current locations of the transportvehicles 106, the CS 104 may determine that the first transport vehicle106 a is nearest to the first location. As described in the foregoingdescription of FIG. 1 , the current location of the first transportvehicle 106 a may be the same as the first location. Thus, the CS 104may select the first transport vehicle 106 a for catering to the firstrequest.

On selection of the first transport vehicle 106 a, the CS 104 mayidentify one or more paths for transiting from the first location to thesecond location. Based on the identified one or more paths, the CS 104may determine an optimal path for transiting from the first location tothe second location. The CS 104 may determine the optimal path based onvarious factors such as a travel cost associated with each identifiedpath, availability of the identified paths in the marked facility 102,paths being traversed by other transport vehicles (e.g., the second andthird transport vehicles 106 b and 106 c), or the like. The travel costassociated with each identified path may be a function of an estimatedtime taken to traverse a corresponding identified path by acorresponding transport vehicle, a number of location markers to betraversed in the corresponding identified path, and/or the like. Thedetermined optimal path (i.e., the planned path) is the path that is tobe traversed by the first transport vehicle 106 a. As described in theforegoing, the planned path is indicative of a plurality of locationmarkers to be transited by the first transport vehicle 106 a in asequential fashion. For example, as shown in FIG. 3A, the planned pathwarrants sequential traversal, by the first transport vehicle 106 a, ofthe first and second location markers L₁ and L₂ (i.e., L₁→L₂).

The CS 104 may communicate, to the first transport vehicle 106 a, thetransit instruction based on the determination of the planned path. Thetransit instruction may be indicative of the planned path to betraversed by the first transport vehicle 106 a and estimated distancesbetween consecutive location markers (e.g., the estimated distancebetween the first and second location markers L₁ and L₂) included in theplanned path. The transit instruction may further include details of thelocation markers included in the planned path (e.g., the identifiers ofthe first and second location markers L₁ and L₂). The transitinstruction, received by the first transport vehicle 106 a, instructsthe first transport vehicle 106 a to traverse the planned path.

With reference to FIG. 3B, the current location of the first transportvehicle 106 a is shown to correspond to the first location marker L₁(i.e., the first transport vehicle 106 a is currently at the firstlocation). Based on the transit instruction, the first transport vehicle106 a may be required to transit from the first location marker L₁ tothe second location marker L₂ (i.e., transit from the first location tothe second location). Initially, when the first transport vehicle 106 ais at the first location marker L₁ (i.e., at a first time instanceT=t₀), the value of the counter 216 may be equal to the default value(i.e., c=0). The first transport vehicle 106 a may start traversing theplanned path to reach the second location marker L₂. The first transportvehicle 106 a may transport a payload (i.e., the inventory items and/orpackages; not shown) while traversing the planned path. While transitingfrom the first location to the second location, the first transportvehicle 106 a may record the movement pattern 220 of the first transportvehicle 106 a at various time instances. The movement pattern 220 may berecorded by the first processing circuitry 202. As shown in FIG. 3B, thefirst transport vehicle 106 a reaches first through third intermediatelocations IL₁, IL₂, and IL₃ at second through fourth time instancesT=t₁, T=t₂, T=t₃, respectively. In a non-limiting example, based on therecorded movement pattern 220 and the estimated distance between thefirst and second location markers L₁ and L₂, the first transport vehicle106 a may determine that the first transport vehicle 106 a has failed todetect the second location marker L₂.

The first transport vehicle 106 a may fail to detect a location markerdue to various reasons (referred to as ‘navigation faults’). In oneembodiment, the speed of the first transport vehicle 106 a may begreater than a threshold speed required to detect the location marker,rendering the first transport vehicle 106 a unable to properly scanand/or detect the location marker. For example, a location marker (e.g.,a barcode) scanned by the scanner 226 may be blurred if the speed of thefirst transport vehicle 106 a is greater than the threshold speed,preventing the decoder 212 from being able to properly decode thescanned location marker. In another embodiment, the location marker maybe damaged or worn out, preventing the decoder 212 from correctlyidentifying the location marker even if the first transport vehicle 106a is at a location corresponding to the location marker. In anotherembodiment, one or more components (e.g., the scanner 226, the motor230, or the wheels 234) of the first transport vehicle 106 a may befaulty. For example, incorrect functioning of the motor 230 may resultin incorrect movement of the wheels 234, causing the first transportvehicle 106 a to deviate from the planned path. It will be apparent tothose of skill in the art that the first transport vehicle 106 a mayfail to detect a location marker due a reason other than those describedabove, without departing from the scope of the disclosure.

The determination that the first transport vehicle 106 a has failed todetect the second location marker L₂ may be based on a comparisonbetween a distance traversed by the first transport vehicle 106 a fromthe first time instance T=t₀ to the fourth time instance T=t₃ and theestimated distance between the first and second location markers L₁ andL₂. The first transport vehicle 106 a may determine that it has failedto detect the second location marker L₂ if a distance traversed by thefirst transport vehicle 106 a to reach the third intermediate locationIL₃ exceeds or equals the estimated distance. In the current embodiment,the distance between the first location and the third intermediatelocation IL₃ (i.e., the distance traversed by the first transportvehicle 106 a between the first time instance T=t₀ and the fourth timeinstance T=t₃) exceeds the estimated distance between the first andsecond location markers L₁ and L₂. Therefore, on reaching the thirdintermediate location IL₃, the first transport vehicle 106 a maydetermine that the first transport vehicle 106 a has traversed more thanthe estimated distance between the first and second location markers L₁and L₂, failing to detect the second location marker L₂ at the secondlocation. In such a scenario, the diagnostics unit 218 may run variousdiagnostics tests to verify whether various components (e.g., thesensors 224, the scanner 226, the motor 230, or the wheels 234) of thefirst transport vehicle 106 a are functioning properly. If thediagnostics unit 218 determines any of the various components is notfunctioning properly, the first transport vehicle 106 a may communicatean error notification to the CS 104, indicating that a component (e.g.,the scanner 226 or the motor 230) necessary for traversing the firstpath and/or detecting location markers may be faulty. In such ascenario, the first transport vehicle 106 a may remain halted at thethird intermediate location IL₃ and may require manual intervention bythe CS 104 or an operator to resume operation. In a non-limitingexample, it is assumed that the diagnostics unit 218 determines thateach of the various components is functioning properly.

The first transport vehicle 106 a may halt at the third intermediatelocation IL₃ and increment the value of the counter 216 (i.e., c=1)indicating the failure to detect the second location marker L₂ for thefirst time. The first transport vehicle 106 a may compare the value ofthe counter 216 to the threshold value 222. Based on the comparison, thefirst transport vehicle 106 a may determine that the value of thecounter 216 is less than the threshold value 222 (i.e., 3).Consequently, the first transport vehicle 106 a may attempt to retrace afirst path followed by the first transport vehicle 106 a to reach thethird intermediate location IL₃ from the first location indicated by thefirst location marker L₁.

For retracing the first path, the first transport vehicle 106 a mayutilize the movement pattern 220 that was recorded while traversing theplanned path. Based on the movement pattern 220, the first transportvehicle 106 a may align itself towards the first location marker L₁. Inother words, the first transport vehicle 106 a may adjust its angularalignment to orient itself towards the first location marker L₁. Forexample, the first transport vehicle 106 a may determine that the firsttransport vehicle 106 a has to perform an angular rotation (e.g., θ°) toretrace the first path. The first transport vehicle 106 a may furtherdetermine a speed required to retrace the first path based on therecorded movement pattern 220. In a non-limiting example, the firsttransport vehicle 106 a may retrace the first path at a slow pace andmay utilize the ODS to detect and avoid collisions with any obstacles(e.g., other transport vehicles).

With reference to FIG. 3C, the first transport vehicle 106 a is shown toretrace the first path by transiting from the third intermediatelocation IL₃ towards the first location indicated by the first locationmarker L₁. At a fifth time instance T=t₄, the first transport vehicle106 a may reach the second intermediate location IL₂. At a sixth timeinstance T=t₅, the first transport vehicle 106 a may transit from thesecond intermediate location IL₂ to the first intermediate location IL₁.At a seventh time instance T=t₆, the first transport vehicle 106 a maytransit from the first intermediate location IL₁ to the first locationindicated by the first location marker L₁. On reaching the firstlocation, the first transport vehicle 106 a may attempt to scan anddetect the first location marker L₁ at the first location by way of thescanner 226 and the decoder 212. In one example, the first transportvehicle 106 a may fail to detect the first location marker L₁. In such ascenario, the first transport vehicle 106 a may halt at its currentlocation and communicate an error notification to the CS 104. In anon-limiting example, it is assumed that the first transport vehicle 106a successfully detects the first location marker L₁. In such a scenario,the first transport vehicle 106 a may orient itself towards the secondlocation and may re-attempt to traverse the planned path for transitingfrom the first location to the second location.

With reference to FIG. 3D, the first transport vehicle 106 a is shown tore-attempt transiting to the second location, from the first location,by traversing the planned path. Initially, at the seventh time instanceT=t₆, the value of the counter 216 is one (i.e., c=1) and the firsttransport vehicle 106 a is at the first location marker L₁. At theseventh time instance T=t₆, the first transport vehicle 106 a may begintraversing the planned path to reach the second location. At an eighthtime instance T=t₇, the first transport vehicle 106 a may reach a fourthintermediate location IL₄ between the first and second locations. At aninth time instance T=t₈, the first transport vehicle 106 a may reachthe second location and may successfully detect the second locationmarker L₂. When the first transport vehicle 106 a detects the secondlocation marker L₂, the first transport vehicle 106 a may reset thevalue of the counter 216 to the default value (i.e., c=0). On reachingthe second location marker L₂, the first transport vehicle 106 a maydetermine that the planned path is completely traversed and may halt atthe second location.

In another embodiment, the first transport vehicle 106 a may, again,fail to detect the second location marker L₂ and may halt at anyintermediate location when the first transport vehicle 106 a determinesthat it has failed to detect the second location marker L₂. In such ascenario, the first transport vehicle 106 a may increment the value ofthe counter 216 (i.e., c=2) and compare the value of the counter 216 tothe threshold value 222. The first transport vehicle 106 a may determinethat the value of the counter 216 is less than the threshold value 222.Based on the determination, the first transport vehicle 106 a may againretrace a path (e.g., the first path) traversed to reach theintermediate location (as described in the foregoing).

The first transport vehicle 106 a may continue to retrace its path andre-attempt to reach the second location until the value of the counter216 equals the threshold value 222 (e.g., 3). In a scenario where thefirst transport vehicle 106 a, yet again, fails to detect the secondlocation marker L₂ and the value of the counter 216 equals the thresholdvalue 222 (e.g., 3), the first transport vehicle 106 a may determinewhether the transit instruction includes any location beyond the secondlocation that is to be transited by the first transport vehicle 106 aafter reaching the second location. In other words, the first transportvehicle 106 a may detect, based on the transit instruction, a presenceof a third location after the second location in the planned path. Ifthe first transport vehicle 106 a detects, based on the transitinstruction, the third location after the second location in the plannedpath, the first transport vehicle 106 a may orient itself towards athird location marker that indicates the third location and attempt totransit from the intermediate location (e.g., the third intermediatelocation IL₃) to the third location. An exemplary scenario where thefirst transport vehicle 106 a attempts to transit from the intermediatelocation to a location subsequent to the second location is describedlater in conjunction with FIGS. 4A-4E.

However, in the exemplary scenario 300, the transit instruction includesthe details of only the first and second location markers L₁ and L₂. Ina scenario where the undetected location marker (i.e., the secondlocation marker L₂) is the last location marker in the planned path andthe value of the counter 216 equals the threshold value 222 (e.g., 3),the first transport vehicle 106 a again retraces its path that wasfollowed by the first transport vehicle 106 a to reach the intermediatelocation. On reaching the first location, the first transport vehicle106 a may re-attempt traversing the planned path. If the first transportvehicle 106 a, while attempting to transit to the second location,determines, at another intermediate location, that it has failed todetect the second location marker L₂, the first transport vehicle 106 amay, yet again, increment the value of the counter 216 (i.e., c=4). Thefirst transport vehicle 106 a may then compare the value of the counter216 and the threshold value 222, and determine that the value of thecounter 216 exceeds the threshold value 222. Based on the determination,the first transport vehicle 106 a may halt at the intermediate locationand communicate an error notification to the CS 104, indicating thefirst transport vehicle 106 a is halted at the intermediate location.The error notification may further indicate that the second locationmarker L₂ may be worn out or damaged.

FIGS. 4A-4E, collectively represent an exemplary scenario 400 thatdescribes a method for retracing a planned path by the first transportvehicle 106 a, in accordance with another exemplary embodiment of thedisclosure. FIG. 4A shows the marked facility 102, the first transportvehicle 106 a, the first location marker L₁, the second location markerL₂, and a third location marker L₃.

With reference to FIG. 4A, the CS 104 may receive a second request thatrequires the first transport vehicle 106 a to transit from the firstlocation to a third location, indicated by the third location marker L₃,in the marked facility 102. Based on the second request, the CS 104 maydetermine an optimal path for transiting from the first location to thethird location. The determination of the optimal path is described inthe foregoing description of FIG. 3A. The determined optimal path is aplanned path to be traversed by the first transport vehicle 106 a forcatering to the second request. As described earlier, the planned pathis indicative of a plurality of location markers to be transited by thefirst transport vehicle 106 a in a sequential fashion. For example, asshown in FIG. 4A, the planned path warrants sequential traversal, by thefirst transport vehicle 106 a, of the first, second, and third locationmarkers L₁, L₂, and L₃ (i.e., L₁→L₂→L₃).

The CS 104 may communicate, to the first transport vehicle 106 a, atransit instruction based on the determination of the planned path. Thetransit instruction may be indicative of the planned path and estimateddistances between consecutive location markers (e.g., a distance betweenthe first and second location markers L₁ and L₂ and a distance betweenthe second and third location markers L₂ and L₃) included in the plannedpath. The transit instruction may further include details of the firstthrough third location markers L₁-L₃ (e.g., identifiers of the firstthrough third location markers L₁-L₃). Based on the transit instruction,the first transport vehicle 106 a is required to transit from the firstlocation marker L₁ to the third location marker L₃ by way of the secondlocation marker L₂. Initially, when the first transport vehicle 106 a isat the first location marker L₁ (i.e., at a first time instance T=t₀),the value of the counter 216 may be equal to the default value (i.e.,c=0). At the first time instance T=t₀, the first transport vehicle 106 amay start traversing the planned path. While transiting from the firstlocation to the second location along the planned path, the firsttransport vehicle 106 a may record the movement pattern 220 of the firsttransport vehicle 106 a at various time instances (as described in theforegoing description of FIGS. 3A-3D).

With reference to FIG. 4B, the first transport vehicle 106 a may reachfirst through third intermediate locations IL₁, IL₂, and IL₃ at secondthrough fourth time instances T=t₁, T=t₂, and T=t₃, respectively. In anon-limiting example, based on the recorded movement pattern 220 and theestimated distance between the first and second location markers L₁ andL₂, the first transport vehicle 106 a may determine that the firsttransport vehicle 106 a has failed to detect the second location markerL₂ (as described in the foregoing description of FIG. 3B). On reachingthe third intermediate location IL₃, the first transport vehicle 106 amay determine that the first transport vehicle 106 a has traversed morethan the estimated distance between the first and second locationmarkers L₁ and L₂, and has failed to detect the second location markerL₂ at the second location. In such a scenario, the diagnostics unit 218may run the various diagnostics tests to verify whether the variouscomponents (e.g., the scanner 226, the motor 230, or the wheels 234) ofthe first transport vehicle 106 a are functioning properly. In anon-limiting example, diagnostics unit 218 determines that all thevarious components are functioning properly.

In this scenario, the first transport vehicle 106 a may halt at thethird intermediate location IL₃ and increment the value of the counter216 (i.e., c=1). As described in the foregoing, the first transportvehicle 106 a may compare the value of the counter 216 to the thresholdvalue 222. Based on the comparison, the first transport vehicle 106 amay determine that the value of the counter 216 is less than thethreshold value 222. Consequently, the first transport vehicle 106 a mayattempt to retrace a first path followed by the first transport vehicle106 a to reach the third intermediate location IL₃ from the firstlocation. The first transport vehicle 106 a may retrace the first pathto transit from the third intermediate location IL₃ to the firstlocation indicated by the first location marker L₁ (as described in theforegoing description of FIG. 3C).

With reference to FIG. 4C, the first transport vehicle 106 a may begintransiting from the third intermediate location IL₃ to the firstlocation at the fourth time instance T=t₃. At a fifth time instanceT=t₄, the first transport vehicle 106 a may reach the secondintermediate location IL₂. At a sixth time instance T=t₅, the firsttransport vehicle 106 a may transit from the second intermediatelocation IL₂ to the first intermediate location IL₁. At a seventh timeinstance T=t₆, the first transport vehicle 106 a may transit from thefirst intermediate location IL₁ to the first location indicated by thefirst location marker L₁. In the current embodiment, it is assumed thatthe first transport vehicle 106 a successfully detects the firstlocation marker L₁ and halts at the first location. If the firsttransport vehicle 106 a repeatedly fails to detect the second locationmarker L₂, the first transport vehicle 106 a may retrace and re-attempttransiting from the first location to the second location, as long asthe value of the counter 216 is less than the threshold value 222. Inother words, if the threshold value 222 is equal to ‘n’, the transportvehicle 106 a may retrace and re-attempt transiting from the firstlocation to the second location as long as the value of the counter 216is less than ‘n’.

With reference to FIG. 4D, at a time instance T=t_(k−3) that is afterthe seventh time instance T=T₆, the first transport vehicle 106 a mayre-attempt to transit from the first location to the second location. Atthe time instance T=t_(k−3), the value of the counter 216 may be equalto ‘n−1’ (i.e., ‘2’). The first transport vehicle 106 a may reach afourth intermediate location IL₄ at a time instance T=t_(k−2), a fifthintermediate location IL₅ at a time instance T=t_(k−1), and a sixthintermediate location IL₆ at T=t_(k). At the time instance T=t_(k), thefirst transport vehicle 106 a may determine, again, that it has failedto detect the second location marker L₂. The first transport vehicle 106a may halt at the sixth intermediate location IL₆ and increment thevalue of the counter 216 (i.e., c=3). The first transport vehicle 106 amay then compare the value of the counter 216 to the threshold value222, determining that the value of the counter 216 is equal to thethreshold value 222. In such a scenario, the first transport vehicle 106a may detect whether the planned path includes a location that is to betraversed after the second location. In the exemplary scenario 400, thefirst transport vehicle 106 a detects a presence of the third location,indicated by the third location marker L₃, after the second location inthe planned path.

Based on the presence of the third location in the planned path, thefirst transport vehicle 106 a may adjust its angular alignment to orientthe first transport vehicle 106 a towards the third location marker L₃that indicates the third location. For example, the first transportvehicle 106 a may adjust its angular alignment based on a spatialalignment of each of the sixth intermediate location IL₆ and the thirdlocation with respect to the first location to identify a shortest pathto reach the third location from the sixth intermediate location IL₆.For adjusting its angular alignment, the first transport vehicle 106 amay rotate by θ° and travel along the identified shortest path.

With reference to FIG. 4E, the first transport vehicle 106 a may transitfrom the sixth intermediate location IL₆ towards the third locationmarker L₃ based on the identified shortest path and the distance betweenthe second and third location markers L₂ and L₃. The first transportvehicle 106 a is shown to reach the third location marker L₃ at a timeinstance T=t_(k+1). If the first transport vehicle 106 a successfullydetects the third location marker L₃ at the third location, the value ofthe counter 216 may be reset to the default value (i.e., c=0). Further,the first transport vehicle 106 a may communicate, to the CS 104, anotification or a message indicating that the first transport vehicle106 a has reached the third location indicated by the third locationmarker L₃. However, if the first transport vehicle 106 a fails to detectthe third location marker L₃ at the third location, the first transportvehicle 106 a may halt at another intermediate location and communicatean error notification to the CS 104.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram that illustrates the CS 104, in accordancewith an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure. The CS 104 may include asecond processing circuitry 502, the second memory (hereinafter,referred to as ‘the second memory 504’), and a second transceiver 506that communicate with each other by way of a second communication bus508. The second processing circuitry 502 may include a request handler510, an allocation manager 512, a routing engine 514, an instructionmanager 516, and a layout manager 518. It will be apparent to a personhaving ordinary skill in the art that the CS 104 is shown forillustrative purposes and not limited to any specific combination ofhardware circuitry and software.

The second processing circuitry 502 may include suitable logic,instructions, circuitry, interfaces, and/or code, executable by thecircuitry, for implementing various operations such as inventorymanagement operations, item procurement operations, order fulfilmentoperations, or the like. In one embodiment, the second processingcircuitry 502 may be configured to select a transport vehicle (forexample, the first transport vehicle 106 a) and determine optimal paths(e.g., the planned path) for facilitating transportation in the markedfacility 102. Examples of the second processing circuitry 502 include,but not limited to, an ASIC processor, a RISC processor, a CISCprocessor, a FPGA, a combination of a CPU and a GPU, a microcontroller,and/or the like.

The second memory 504 may suitable logic, instructions, circuitry,interfaces, and/or code, executable by the circuitry, to store layoutinformation 520 and the transport vehicle data (hereinafter, referred toas ‘the transport vehicle data 522’). Examples of the second memory 504include a RAM, a ROM, a removable storage drive, a HDD, a flash memory,a solid-state memory, and the like. In one embodiment, the second memory504 may be realized through various database technologies such as, butnot limited to, Microsoft® SQL, Oracle®, IBM DB2®, Microsoft Access®,PostgreSQL®, MySQL® and SQLite®. It will be apparent to a person skilledin the art that the scope of the disclosure is not limited to realizingthe second memory 504 in the CS 104, as described herein. In otherembodiments, the second memory 504 may be realized in form of anexternal database server or a cloud storage working in conjunction withthe CS 104, without departing from the scope of the disclosure.

The layout information 520 may include the virtual map of the markedfacility 102. The virtual map may include information pertaining to thelayout of the marked facility 102, such as the pre-determined locationsof the location markers, locations of the PSUs, locations of eachinventory item or package, or the like. The layout information 520 mayfurther include real-time path availability information of various pathsin the marked facility 102. For example, the layout information 520 mayindicate that one or more paths in the marked facility 102 are closeddown for maintenance.

The transport vehicle data 522 may be indicative of details of thetransport vehicles 106 present in the marked facility 102. The detailsof each of the transport vehicles 106 may include a size, dimensions, aweight carrying capacity, a maximum and minimum speed of a correspondingtransport vehicle, or the like. The details of each of the transportvehicles 106 may further include an identifier (such as a numeric or analpha-numeric code) associated with the corresponding transport vehicle,real-time information such as a real-time location of the correspondingtransport vehicle, an indicator that indicates whether the correspondingtransport vehicle is carrying a payload, a weight of the payload, or thelike. The transport vehicle data 522 may also indicate whether any ofthe transport vehicles 106 are moving synchronously in the markedfacility 102.

The second transceiver 506 transmits and receives data over thecommunication network 108 using one or more communication networkprotocols. The second transceiver 506 transmits various requests andinstructions to the transport vehicles 106 and receives notificationsfrom the transport vehicles 106. Examples of the second transceiver 506include, but are not limited to, an antenna, a radio frequencytransceiver, a wireless transceiver, a Bluetooth transceiver, anethernet based transceiver, a USB transceiver, or any other deviceconfigured to transmit and receive data.

The second processing circuitry 502 may perform various operations inthe marked facility 102 by way of the request handler 510, theallocation manager 512, the routing engine 514, the instruction manager516, and the layout manager 518. The request handler 510 may process therequests (e.g., the first and second requests) received from theexternal communication server. The request handler 510 may identify,based on the received requests, inventory items or packages pertinent tothe requests. The request handler 510 may further identify one or moreoperations (e.g., the transportation of the inventory items and/orpackages from the first location to the third location) to be performed,based on the received requests. In one embodiment, when the markedfacility 102 does not have all inventory items specified in a request,the request handler 510 may queue the request for a specific-timeinterval until the marked facility 102 receives all the inventory itemsspecified in the request. In one embodiment, the request handler 510 maymerge various requests to optimize fulfilment of the requests andimprove efficiency and throughput at the marked facility 102.

The allocation manager 512 may handle the allocation of the transportvehicles 106 for performing one or more operations (e.g., transporting apayload) based on the received requests. For example (as described inFIG. 3A), the allocation manager 512 may select the first transportvehicle 106 a for transporting the payload from the first location tothe second location.

The routing engine 514 may determine optimal paths (e.g., the plannedpath) for the transport vehicles 106 to transit in the marked facility102. In one embodiment, if any of the transport vehicles 106 encounterany obstacles while transiting, the routing engine 514 may determine, inreal-time, an alternate route for the transport vehicle to transit to asame destination location (e.g., the second location).

The instruction manager 516 may communicate various instructions (e.g.,the transit instruction) to the transport vehicles 106 (e.g., the firsttransport vehicle 106 a). The instruction manager 516 may communicatetransit instructions to the transport vehicles 106 for transiting fromone location to another location (i.e., from a source location to adestination location). For example, the instruction manager 516 maycommunicate a transit instruction to the first transport vehicle 106 afor transiting from the first location to the second location. It willbe apparent to those of skill in the art that the instruction manager516 is not limited to sending transit instructions to the transportvehicles 106. The instruction manager 516 may communicate, to thetransport vehicles 106, any instruction that is necessary for operationof the marked facility 102 or the transport vehicles 106.

The layout manager 518 may manage the layout information 520. Forexample, if there is any change in the layout of the marked facility 102(such as a change in the arrangement inventory items or packages in thestorage area), the layout manager 518 may update the layout information520 based on the change in the layout.

FIGS. 6A-6D, collectively represent a flow chart 600 that illustrates aprocess (i.e., method) for traversing a planned path in the markedfacility 102, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of thedisclosure. FIGS. 6A-6D have been explained in conjunction with FIGS.3A-3D and 4A-4E.

With reference to FIG. 6A, the process starts at step 602, where thefirst transport vehicle 106 a receives a transit instruction, indicativeof a planned path, from the CS 104. The process proceeds to step 604,where the first transport vehicle 106 a transits from the first locationto the second location along the planned path included in the transitinstruction (as described in the foregoing description of FIG. 3A). Theprocess proceeds to step 606, where the first transport vehicle 106 arecords the movement pattern 220 of the first transport vehicle 106 a atvarious time instances (e.g., the first through fourth time instancesT=t₀-T=t₃), while transiting towards the second location (as describedin FIG. 3B). The process proceeds to step 608, where the first transportvehicle 106 a stores the recorded movement pattern 220 in the firstmemory 204. The process proceeds to step 610, where the first transportvehicle 106 a determines whether the second location marker L₂ isdetected. If at step 610, it is determined that the second locationmarker L₂ is detected, the process proceeds to process A as shown inFIG. 6B.

If at step 610, it is determined that the second location marker L₂ isnot detected (i.e., the first transport vehicle 106 a has failed todetect the second location marker L₂), the process proceeds to step 612.At step 612, the first transport vehicle 106 a halts at an intermediatelocation (i.e., a current location of the first transport vehicle 106a). For example, as described in FIG. 3B, the first transport vehicle106 a halts at the third intermediate location IL₃. The process proceedsto step 614, where the first transport vehicle 106 a modifies (here,increments) the value of the counter 216. For example, the value of thecounter 216 is incremented from zero (i.e., the default value) to one(i.e., incremented by one). The process proceeds to step 616, where thefirst transport vehicle 106 a determines whether the value of thecounter 216 is less than the threshold value 222 (i.e., whether c<n). Ifat step 616, it is determined that the value of the counter 216 is lessthan the threshold value 222 (i.e., c<n), the process proceeds toprocess B as shown in FIG. 6B. If at step 616, it is determined that thevalue of the counter 216 is not less than the threshold value 222 (i.e.,c>=3), the process proceeds to process C as shown in FIG. 6C.

With reference to FIG. 6B, the process B proceeds to step 618, where thefirst transport vehicle 106 a determines whether it is possible toretrace the first path and reach the first location. In other words, thediagnostics unit 218 runs the various diagnostics tests to determinewhether the various components of the first transport vehicle 106 a arefunctioning properly. If at step 618, it is determined that it ispossible to retrace the first path and reach the first location (i.e.,if the various components of the first transport vehicle 106 a arefunctioning properly), the process proceeds to step 620. If step 618, itis determined that it is not possible to retrace the first path andreach the first location (i.e., if the various components of the firsttransport vehicle 106 a are not functioning properly), the processproceeds to process D as shown in FIG. 6C.

At step 620, the first transport vehicle 106 a retraces the first path,traversed to reach the intermediate location (e.g., the thirdintermediate location IL₃ of FIG. 3B) from the first location, based onthe recorded movement pattern 220. The process proceeds to step 622,where the first transport vehicle 106 a determines whether the firstlocation marker L₁ is detected. If at step 622, it is determined thatthe first location marker L₁ is detected, the process proceeds toprocess E, which in turn proceeds to step 604 of FIG. 6A. If at step622, it is determined that the first location marker L₁ is not detected,the process proceeds to the process D as shown in FIG. 6C.

With reference to FIG. 6C, the process D proceeds to step 624, where thefirst transport vehicle 106 a communicates an error notification to theCS 104 indicating an error occurred while executing the transitinstruction. The process proceeds to step 626, where the first transportvehicle 106 a resets the value of the counter 216 to the default value(i.e., c=0), and then the process proceeds to end.

With reference to FIG. 6D, the process C proceeds to step 628, where thefirst transport vehicle 106 a determines whether value of the counter216 is equal to the threshold value 222 (i.e., if c=n). If at step 628,it is determined that the value of the counter 216 is equal to thethreshold value 222, the process proceeds to step 630. If at step 628,it is determined that the value of the counter 216 is not equal to thethreshold value 222, the process proceeds to step 624 of FIG. 6C. Atstep 630, the first transport vehicle 106 a attempts to detect apresence of a next location (e.g., the third location) in the plannedpath. In other words, the first transport vehicle 106 a determineswhether the planned path further includes any other location (e.g., thethird location marker indicated by the third location marker L₃)subsequent to the undetected location marker. If at step 630, it isdetermined that the planned path further includes another location(e.g., the third location indicated by the third location marker L₃),the process proceeds to step 632. If at step 630, it is determined thatthe planned path does not include another location (e.g., the thirdlocation indicated by the third location marker L₃), the processproceeds to process F, which in turn proceeds to step 620 of FIG. 6B. Atstep 632, the first transport vehicle 106 a corrects its angularalignment (i.e., adjusts an angle of alignment of the first transportvehicle 106 a) to orient the first transport vehicle 106 a towards anupcoming location marker (e.g., the third location marker L₃). The firsttransport vehicle 106 a may correct its angular alignment based on thespatial alignment of each of the intermediate location (e.g., the sixthintermediate location IL₆ of FIG. 4E) and the upcoming location markerwith respect to the previously traversed location marker.

The process proceeds to step 634, where the first transport vehicle 106a transits from the current location of the first transport vehicle 106a (i.e., the sixth intermediate location IL₆) towards the upcominglocation marker (e.g., the third location marker L₃). The processproceeds to step 636, where the first transport vehicle 106 a determineswhether the upcoming location marker (e.g., the third location markerL₃) is detected. If at step 636 it is determined that the upcominglocation marker (e.g., the third location marker L₃) is detected, theprocess proceeds to step 638. At step 638, the value of the counter 216is reset to the default value (i.e., c=0). The process proceeds to theprocess A, which in turn proceeds to step 630. If at step 636, it isdetermined that the upcoming location marker (e.g., the third locationmarker L₃) is not detected, the process proceeds to process G, which inturn proceeds to step 612 of FIG. 6A.

Technological improvements in the processing circuitry (for example, thefirst processing circuitry 202) of the transport vehicles 106 improvesnavigation by transport vehicles 106 in the marked facility 102.Embodiments of the disclosure allow the transport vehicles 106 toautonomously recover from failures to detect location markers associatedwith corresponding planned paths. When a transport vehicle (e.g., thefirst transport vehicle 106 a) fails to detect a location markerassociated with a planned path being traversed by the transport vehicle,the transport vehicle may, based on a recorded movement pattern (e.g.,the movement pattern 220), retrace a path (e.g., the first path) andreach a last known location (e.g., the first location) associated with acorresponding planned path. Other operations (e.g., operations performedby the second transport vehicle 106 b) at the marked facility 102 remainunaffected as the transport vehicle retraces the path, allowing themarked facility 102 to maintain a near-constant throughput. For example,a vicinity of the first transport vehicle 106 a need to be cordoned offwhen the first transport vehicle 106 a attempts to retrace the firstpath. Therefore, the transport vehicles 106 may recover from navigationfaults without requiring human intervention, improving a throughput andan efficiency of operations at the marked facility 102. A number oftimes the transport vehicle is allowed to re-attempt transit the plannedpath may be controlled by adjusting the threshold value 222. Further,the transport vehicles 106 may communicate error notifications (asdescribed in the foregoing description of FIGS. 1, 3A-3D, and 4A-4E) tothe CS 104, enabling the CS 104 to identify damaged or defectivelocation markers in the marked facility 102.

A person of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that embodimentsof the disclosed subject matter can be practiced with various computersystem configurations, including multi-core multiprocessor systems,minicomputers, mainframe computers, computers linked or clustered withdistributed functions, as well as pervasive or miniature computers thatmay be embedded into virtually any device. Further, the operations maybe described as a sequential process, however some of the operations mayin fact be performed in parallel, concurrently, and/or in a distributedenvironment, and with program code stored locally or remotely for accessby single or multiprocessor machines. In addition, in some embodimentsthe order of operations may be rearranged without departing from thespirit of the disclosed subject matter.

Techniques consistent with the present disclosure provide, among otherfeatures, systems and methods for traversing the planned path in themarked facility. While various exemplary embodiments of the disclosedsystem and method have been described above it should be understood thatthey have been presented for purposes of example only, not limitations.It is not exhaustive and does not limit the disclosure to the preciseform disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light ofthe above teachings or may be acquired from practicing of thedisclosure, without departing from the breadth or scope.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for traversing a planned path in amarked facility, the method comprising: receiving, by a transportvehicle from a control server that is configured to communicate with aplurality of transport vehicles, a transit instruction instructing thetransport vehicle to traverse the planned path, wherein the transitinstruction includes details of at least first and second locationmarkers including at least an estimated distance between the first andsecond location markers; transiting, by a transport vehicle from amongthe plurality of transport vehicles, from a first location in the markedfacility to a second location in the marked facility for traversing theplanned path, wherein the first and second locations are indicated bythe first and second location markers, respectively; recording, by thetransport vehicle, a movement pattern thereof while transiting from thefirst location to the second location, wherein the recorded movementpattern includes an angular alignment of the transport vehicle withrespect to the first location marker at a plurality of time instanceswhile the transport vehicle is transiting from the first location to thesecond location; determining that a distance traversed by the transportvehicle exceeds or equals the estimated distance and failing to detectthe second location marker at the second location; halting, by thetransport vehicle, at a current location based on the failure to detectthe second location marker at the second location after the transportvehicle determines that the distance traversed by the transport vehicleexceeds or equals the estimated distance; the transport vehicle adjustsits angular alignment to orient itself toward the first location markerand retracing a first path traversed to reach the current location fromthe first location based on the recorded movement pattern, wherein onreaching the first location, the transport vehicle re-attempts totransit from the first location to the second location; communicating,by the transport vehicle to the control server, an error notificationafter the transport vehicle reaches a threshold number of failures todetect the second location marker; and identifying, by the controlserver, the second location marker to be damaged in response toreceiving the error notification communicated by the transport vehicle.2. The method of claim 1, further comprising modifying, by the transportvehicle, a value of a counter from a first value to a second value basedon the failure to detect the second location marker.
 3. The method ofclaim 2, wherein the second value is less than a threshold value and thefirst path is retraced by the transport vehicle in response to thesecond value being less than the threshold value.
 4. The method of claim2, further comprising resetting, by the transport vehicle, the counterto a default value based on a detection of the second location marker atthe second location during the re-attempt to transit from the firstlocation to the second location.
 5. The method of claim 2, wherein thesecond value is equal to a threshold value and the method furthercomprising: detecting, by the transport vehicle, a presence of a thirdlocation after the second location in the planned path in response tothe second value being equal to a threshold value, wherein the thirdlocation is indicated by a third location marker; detecting the presenceof the third location in the planned path; and transiting, by thetransport vehicle, from the current location to the third locationindicated by the third location marker in response to the presence ofthe third location being detected in the planned path, wherein thetransport vehicle transits from the current location to the thirdlocation based on a spatial alignment of each of the current locationand the third location with respect to the first location.
 6. The methodof claim 2, wherein the second value is greater than a threshold valueand the method further comprising communicating, by the transportvehicle to the control server, the error notification in response to thesecond value is greater than a threshold value.
 7. The method of claim1, further comprising storing, by the transport vehicle in a memory, therecorded movement pattern.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein therecorded movement pattern further includes a speed of the transportvehicle or a direction in which the transport vehicle is accelerating,at the plurality of time instances while the transport vehicle istransiting from the first location to the second location.
 9. A systemfor traversing a planned path in a marked facility, the systemcomprising: a plurality of location markers affixed on a floor surfaceof the marked facility, wherein the plurality of location markers areindicative of a plurality of locations in the marked facility; a controlserver that is configured to communicate with a plurality of transportvehicles; and a transport vehicle, among the plurality of transportvehicles, that is configured to: receive, from the control server, atransit instruction instructing the transport vehicle to traverse theplanned path, wherein the transit instruction includes details of atleast first and second location markers including at least an estimateddistance between the first and second location markers; transit from afirst location in the marked facility to a second location in the markedfacility for traversing the planned path, wherein the first and secondlocations are indicated by the first and second location markers of theplurality of location markers, record a movement pattern thereof whiletransiting from the first location to the second location, wherein therecorded movement pattern includes an angular alignment of the transportvehicle with respect to the first location marker at a plurality of timeinstances while the transport vehicle is transiting from the firstlocation to the second location, determine whether a distance traversedby the transport vehicle exceeds or equals the estimated distance andwhile failing to detect the second location marker at the secondlocation, halt at a current location based on the failure to detect thesecond location marker at the second location after the transportvehicle determines that the distance traversed by the transport vehicleexceeds or equals the estimated distance, adjust an angular alignment ofthe transport vehicle to orient the transport vehicle toward the firstlocation marker and retrace a first path traversed to reach the currentlocation from the first location based on the recorded movement pattern,wherein on reaching the first location, the transport vehiclere-attempts to transit from the first location to the second location,and communicate to the control server, an error notification when thetransport vehicle reaches a threshold number of re-attempts to detectthe second location marker, wherein the control server is configured toidentify the second location marker to be damaged based on receiving theerror notification communicated by the transport vehicle.
 10. The systemof claim 9, wherein the transport vehicle is further configured tomodify a value of a counter from a first value to a second value basedon the failure to detect the second location marker.
 11. The system ofclaim 10, wherein the first path is retraced by the transport vehicle inresponse to the second value being less than a threshold value.
 12. Thesystem of claim 10, wherein the transport vehicle is further configuredto reset the counter to a default value based on a detection of thesecond location marker at the second location during the re-attempt totransit from the first location to the second location.
 13. The systemof claim 10, wherein the transport vehicle is further configured to:detect a presence of a third location after the second location in theplanned path in response to the second value being equal to a thresholdvalue, wherein the third location is indicated by a third locationmarker of the plurality of location markers, and transit from theintermediate location to the third location indicated by the thirdlocation marker in response to the presence of the third location beingdetected in the planned path, wherein the transport vehicle transitsfrom the current location to the third location based on a spatialalignment of each of the current location and the third location withrespect to the first location.
 14. The system of claim 10, wherein thetransport vehicle is further configured to communicate the errornotification to the control server in response to the second value beinggreater than a threshold value.
 15. The system of claim 9, wherein thetransport vehicle comprises a memory for storing the recorded movementpattern.
 16. The system of claim 9, wherein the recorded movementpattern further includes a speed of the transport vehicle or a directionin which the transport vehicle is accelerating, at the plurality of timeinstances while the transport vehicle is transiting from the firstlocation to the second location.